Maria Antonia Martinez

Maria Antonia Martinez (1803-1887) was the daughter of Colonel Ygnacio Martinez and the wife of English settler William A. Richardson.

Biography
Maria Antonia Martinez was born in 1803, one of the six daughters of Mexican Army officer Ygnacio Martinez. In 1822, she met the English sailor William A. Richardson when he arrived in California on a voyage from Boston. While Richardson met with her father to acquire forms allowing for his ship to stay in the harbor, he fell in love with Maria Martinez, who quoted American love poetry to seduce Richardson. The two were married by 1825, and they would live in Richardson's rancho in Sausalito after 1838. Martinez outlived her husband by 29 years, dying in 1887.